An Emergency Surgery and A Stay At Home Mom!

Wow! I mean... WOW!!!!

We got home Monday afternoon as indicated in the last post and Mom got here not long after we did. Bailey slept with her Monday night so Sid and I could get some rest. Tuesday Bailey's breathing was pretty labored but I just assumed it was "normal" for the kind of surgery she had just had. Dr. Carron, who is again, the best thing next to sliced bread, called Tuesday afternoon to check on her and I explained to him how I felt her breathing was and he sounded concerned but I could tell he didn't really know how to take my concerns. He said he could see her before June 3rd if I thought she needed to see him. Tuesday night, I could hear her breathing all the way on the other side of the house and I told Sid that night when we got in the bed that I was taking her back to Dr. Carron's the next morning. I was very concerned. She did not seem unhappy. She was her usual smiling, playing self, but she seemed to be in what we thought was pain every couple of hours and so we were giving her the pain medication they sent her home with. That seemed to calm her some and so we just thought it was pain and labored breathing that was the problem. But on Wednesday there was no question, she had to see the doctor. Or I guess I should say I had to see the doctor to be reassured that she was breathing ok. I called Dr. Carron's office at 8:00 a.m. sharp and waited and waited for someone to call me back. In the meantime, I started to give Bailey a bath and realized that her lungs were retracting. Mom and I decided we'd head on to Jackson and either go to Dr. Carron's office or the ER at Children's. To make a long story short, we ended up at Dr. Carron's office about 11:40 a.m. and by 12:30 Bailey had been admitted to Children's and was being prepped for surgery around 4:30 p.m. I called Sid and his mom and they rushed on to Jackson. Thank goodness mom got Bailey to fall asleep as she couldn't have anything to eat so Sid, NeNe and I sat in the lobby for a bit while they napped in the room. At about 5:00 they came to get Bailey for surgery. We didn't really know what to expect because Dr. Carron wasn't really sure what to expect, but he knew something was up with Bailey's airway because she was in respiratory distress. She was in surgery about 45 mins this time and this is what we found out: Bailey had an over exaggerated response to being on the vent for 3 days and had some major, major swelling in her airway. Along with that she had a rather large (to be in your airway) piece of tissue left over from Tuesday's surgery that was in her airway, obstructing it. So that was removed. And the good news was we were lucky to have taken her on in and to get it taken care of before her breathing was so compromised she stopped breathing and we were only expected to have to stay one night in the hospital with this procedure. On Thursday around lunch Dr. Carron came to see her and expected to tell us that we were going to stay one more night just to make sure all was well...but...she sounded so good, I mean you had to get really close and actually watch for her chest to rise and fall to check to make sure she was breathing, that he let us go. We got home Thursday around 1:00 and have been fine ever since.

Bailey is growing and getting new skills every day. I am just amazed. I intend to do one of those "Top 10 Fav Things" post really soon to document what all she is doing. But Sid and I really appreciate all the prayers through this ordeal. As one of the preachers who came to be with us the day of the big surgery said, "We prayed her into this world and we're going to keep on praying for her!"

And in the middle of all this, I decided Bailey needed to be at home and not in daycare so she could chill out and relax and be a baby for a little bit. So for now, she and I are home and I am no longer working. Sid and I aren't sure yet how things will work out money-wise, but we know we'll figure it out. I can't wait to stay at home this summer and just love on my baby girl. I plan on taking her swimming and on walks in the stroller and to have lunch with her daddy and who knows what else we'll get into. But I can't wait!!!